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Rob Snyder

What Rob Snyder thinks about customer demand

@rob-snyder · 86 positions · 2 changes of mind · On ppll ↗

Author of The Power of Pull and writer of the newsletter The Physics of Startups; has advised more than 50 startups on growing from zero to $1 million in revenue.

Rob Snyder did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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Only Rob Snyder on customer demand. See everyone on customer demand

22 dated positions, 2025 to 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Rob Snyder has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingA startup that unblocks latent demand on many people's to-do lists can grow insanely fast.

    startups

    Their wordsBut the good thing about latent demand is that if there’s a latent project on a huge number of peoples’ to-do lists, when you show up with something that unblocks them, it’s like you burst a dam - and, as a result, you can grow insanely fast. This, I think, explains a significant chunk of the startups that go $0-$100M overnight.

    ↗Latent Demandthephysicsofstartups.substack.com 1st of 5 in this piece

  3. Our readingWatching someone will not show latent demand, because they do not look like they are struggling.

    Their wordsIf you watch me going about my evening, you won’t see me struggling. In fact, I’ll probably seem - and be! - quite happy, not even actively wishing for different evening plans.

    ↗Latent Demandthephysicsofstartups.substack.com 1st of 5 in this piece

  5. Our readingNew technology reveals latent demand that was already there; it does not cause it.

    Their wordsthe latent demand was there already. It was not caused by a new category of product, a new technology emerging. The new technology simply revealed it, we can say.

    ↗Latent demand: Do customers always "know" what they'll buy?youtube.com 1st of 6 in this recording

  7. Our readingDemand may not be visible from the outside and may only be knowable from the inside.

    Their wordsthat's the weird thing about latent demand. And I think that's actually true of all demand is it's not necessarily visible from the outside. It's like only knowable from the inside.

    ↗Latent demand: Do customers always "know" what they'll buy?youtube.com 2nd of 6 in this recording

  9. Our readingLatent demand can only be proven real by getting somebody to act, which takes putting plausible supply in front of them.

    Their wordsYou can only prove if latent demand is real by getting somebody to act. That is 100% true. And to get somebody to act, you have to put plausible supply in front of them.

    ↗Latent demand: Do customers always "know" what they'll buy?youtube.com 3rd of 6 in this recording

  11. Our readingLatent demand needs no convincing: it is already on people's mental to-do lists, blocked by a constraint.

    Their wordsAnd this would happen without anyone needing to change their priorities or be convinced of anything. The latent demand is already there - it’s on their mental to-do lists right now! But it is blocked, and there is currently no way to un-block it, so there on the Trello board it stays.

    ↗Latent Demandthephysicsofstartups.substack.com 4th of 5 in this piece

  13. Our readingJust pitching supply tends to get pleasant nods without finding demand.

    Their wordsAnd so what you're gonna find By just pitching supply is you are going to find that you get pleasant nods and, wow, that seems awesome, but you don't actually find demand.

    ↗Latent demand: Do customers always "know" what they'll buy?youtube.com 4th of 6 in this recording

  15. Our readingLatent demand cannot be seen from outside; it has to be felt from the inside.

    Their wordsThis is because latent demand can’t be observed outside-in, it can only be felt inside-out.

    ↗Latent Demandthephysicsofstartups.substack.com 5th of 5 in this piece

  17. Our readingAsking what someone would pay for right now finds demand only some of the time.

    Their wordsSometimes you can find demand by just like asking, what would you pay for right now? What are you actively prioritizing? Whatever. Other times you can't because it takes this form.

    ↗Latent demand: Do customers always "know" what they'll buy?youtube.com 5th of 6 in this recording

  19. Our readingLatent demand is unlikely to come out in an interview.

    Their wordsif you want to find latent demand, you have to like, it's, I don't think it's going to come out in an interview.

    ↗Latent demand: Do customers always "know" what they'll buy?youtube.com 6th of 6 in this recording

  20. 7 weeks earlier

  21. Our readingIf there is no competition there is probably a reason, because demand tends to pull some sort of supply into existence.

    Their wordsif there is no competition, there's probably a reason because when demand exists, it tends to pull some sort of supply into existence.

    ↗Debugging your product-market fit with Rob Snyder (author of Power of Pull)youtube.com 1st of 7 in this recording

  23. Our reading · no longer heldA sales meeting is not a place to convince the buyer.

    Recalls holdingthe typical way we think about sales is entirely backwards, at least the way that I was taught to think about sales and the way that I approached sales early on, which was I thought that a meeting like this, a sales— it's a sales meeting. So, the point of a sales meeting is for me to convince you to buy my product. But pull turns that entirely upside down.

    Saidyou're either weird, you're in a state of pull, which means you'd be weird not to buy my product before I show up, or you're not, in which case I'm not going to be able to convince you of anything.

    ↗Debugging your product-market fit with Rob Snyder (author of Power of Pull)youtube.com 2nd of 7 in this recording

  25. Our reading"The market wasn't ready" is kind of meaningless, because a founder who had looked for demand could have found something.

    Their wordsI built the right supply for demand that didn't exist. It's like, okay, yeah, that doesn't mean anything like that. That, that is kind of meaningless. Like you, you just didn't look, if you had looked for demand, you could have found something there.

    ↗Debugging your product-market fit with Rob Snyder (author of Power of Pull)youtube.com 3rd of 7 in this recording

  27. Our readingThe universe does not owe a founder the finding of demand; you might just be looking in the wrong place.

    Their wordsthe universe does not owe you the opportunity to find it. It does not owe you the finding of demand. It gives you the opportunity to, but you might just be looking in the wrong place.

    ↗Debugging your product-market fit with Rob Snyder (author of Power of Pull)youtube.com 4th of 7 in this recording

  28. 7 months earlier

  29. Our readingThe only usable data is the actual reactions of the people you sell to and deliver to, not what makes sense on a whiteboard.

    Their wordsyou cannot trust what's on a whiteboard or what makes sense in your brain. You can only trust the, the actual reactions of human beings that you are trying to sell to and deliver to. That's the, that's like the only source of data that, that, that is actually usable.

    ↗How companies become generationalyoutube.com 2nd of 2 in this recording

  30. 7 weeks earlier

  31. Our readingCategory creation and a lot of positioning advice end in things that sound right but do not take off.

    Their wordsthis is my problem with like category creation. This is my problem with a lot of the positioning stuff out there. It just, it winds up with stuff that sounds right and makes sense, but doesn't take off.

    ↗Nobody "Wants" AI (and other lessons from Henry Ford)youtube.com 2nd of 4 in this recording

  33. Our readingNobody wants AI; people are trying to accomplish things they would be trying to accomplish whether or not it existed.

    Their wordsSo just like the idea that nobody wanted an automobile, nobody wants AI. They're trying to accomplish things in their lives, which they would be trying to accomplish whether or not AI existed.

    ↗Nobody "Wants" AI (and other lessons from Henry Ford)youtube.com 3rd of 4 in this recording

  34. 7 weeks earlier

  35. Our readingBy paying, customers signal how serious they are about accomplishing the project.

    Their wordsthey are signaling their seriousness about accomplishing the project by paying they are signaling that they value your support in helping them get there

    ↗The Divine Lever | w/ Rob Snyderyoutube.com 4th of 6 in this recording

  37. Our readingVery successful people who do not feel dead inside have taken the approach of serving demand as an objective good.

    Their wordsi've met a lot of people who have been very successful with exits with public company with with all these things and the ones who don't feel dead inside have taken an approach like this

    ↗The Divine Lever | w/ Rob Snyderyoutube.com 5th of 6 in this recording

  38. 6 weeks earlier

  39. Our readingTrying to conjure demand tends to produce nothing, while found demand gets an immediate reaction.

    Their wordsNow, what tends to happen is when you're trying to conjure demand, you do these things and kind of nothing happens. Whereas when you've found demand, when there was demand organically, people are like, oh my gosh, right? This is exactly what I was looking for.

    ↗Startups that Find Demand vs. 'Conjure' Demand | w/ Rob Snyderyoutube.com 1st of 4 in this recording

  41. Our readingDemand is so hard to conjure that founders should find it and choose their tactics from the demand side.

    startups

    Their wordsAnd that, what that tells you is just how hard it is to conjure demand. Right. If the smartest people can't do it, then it's like, okay, cool. I need to go and find demand and decide on my tactics based on what's on the demand side, because people smarter than me cannot conjure demand.

    ↗Startups that Find Demand vs. 'Conjure' Demand | w/ Rob Snyderyoutube.com 4th of 4 in this recording

  42. 3 weeks earlier

  43. Our readingFinding the right customer starts from asking who would be weird not to buy, given what is on their to-do list.

    Their wordsIt starts with a hypothesis. Who do we believe, given what's on their to-do list right now, would be weird not to buy?

    ↗The physics of startup sales | w/ Rob Snyderyoutube.com